the select window does not stay open when you click on it to look for a selection. i have to hold the mouse button down to select anything. Is there a way to get the window to stay open while selecting?

As you can see, i include the select code via a php include file caled "US-States-drop-down-list.php". I copied the select block from generic samples on the internet. The following is shortened contents of the states include file.

Well, <div> is a generic container when nothing else will do. Surely you can use a semantic container . . . like a paragraph. You can style the <p> without padding and margin if need be. Say no to div-itis. :-)

Just to clarify - "margins" are a presentation (visual) consideration. You'd use a paragraph (or list item, or other element) for semantic reasons. That is, your document markup describes the content that's in it:

This provides relevant information about the content to screen readers and search engines. Divs and spans have no real semantic meaning, but you can style either of them, as well as any other element, to accommodate presentation. This is also the center of one of the most argued topics on the net, using tables for layout. Tables are meant to describe tabular data, not layout elements.